TWO Warrington rowers are in international competition for the first time since the Beijing Olympics this weekend.

Richard Egington and Olivia Whitlam take on some of the globe’s best in the opening event of the 2009 World Cup on a course which staged the 1992 Olympic Games rowing regatta.

And both Olympians have new challenges ahead of them.

Leander crewman Egington, who secured a silver medal in the men’s eight in China last summer, is in the men’s four for Team GB as the series gets underway in Banyoles, Spain, tomorrow, Friday.

Agecroft Rowing Club’s Whitlam, a Beijing finalist in the women’s pair, will again team up with Louisa Reeve for that event but they will both double up by featuring in the eight, too.

David Tanner, GB rowing’s performance director said: “We have some truly outstanding rowers, some of whom are racing in fresh combinations.

“I’m sure that this season will be one of rebuilding but also one with some exciting potential.”

Ex-Lymm High School pupil Egington will have company in the four from Leander clubmate Alex Partridge, Matt Langridge from Northwich and Alex Gregory from Reading University.

The 30-year-old, who started rowing as a junior with Warrington Rowing Club, said after Beijing that he would be aiming to compete at London 2012, preferably in the four or double, and this would appear to be the first opportunity to show British bosses his worth.

For Whitlam, from Daresbury, this will be an opportunity in a highly competitive event to build on a partnership with Reeve that only came together two months before the 2008 Olympic regatta.

Current Warrington Sports Personality of the Year Olivia Oakes, a teenager who contested the women’s pair in GB trials in Belgium last month, has not been selected.

After Spain, the World Cup series will continue in Munich, Germany, from June 19 to 21 and finish in Lucerne, Switzerland, from July 10 to 12.